Editions

Victory for Valencia over Atletico Madrid on Sunday will see Nuno Espirito Santo's side climb above their opponents into third in La Liga.

Share

AFP

Written ByHarry West

height="148">

In-form Valencia travel to Atletico Madrid on Sunday knowing
victory will see them leapfrog the reigning La Liga champions into
third place.

Nuno Espirito Santo's men have won four on the spin to move
seven points clear of Sevilla in the race to secure a top-four
finish.

However, with third place enough to seal an automatic UEFA
Champions League place - thus avoiding the play-offs - Valencia
will have their sights firmly set on usurping Diego Simeone's side,
who are just a point better off.

Valencia have not won on any of their past five visits to the
Vicente Calderon and midfielder Enzo Perez knows they face a tough
challenge against an Atletico side that has only lost once in the
past 33 home league games.

"It'll be a very difficult game against a great team, who are
playing in the Champions League and on the up," he told Marca.

"I had the opportunity to work with [Diego] Simeone for six
months at Estudiantes, although he has evolved since then.

"His idea is to play intensely and not give the ball away. We
know it'll be a game like that, but we'll try to counter that and
have a good match.

"Atletico are the champions, ahead of us [in the table] and at
home, so they're the favourites.

"They have to please everyone, but we'll try to have a great
game and do things in the best way possible in order to achieve a
good result."

While Valencia come into the game buoyed by a strong run of
results, Atletico have dropped points in recent weeks against Celta
Vigo and Sevilla to fall seven points off the pace of leaders Real
Madrid.

"We are very eager," said Atletico defender Jesus Gamez. "We
tied against a great team such as Sevilla and in a difficult match
but, above all, it didn't cut points in the ranking.

"We know that Valencia is closer and it will also be a difficult
match, but we have the support of our fans and the team's eagerness
for that moment to arrive.

"We're a team with a very united group, especially with the
coach. We're training well and all the players are needed at this
time. And the union of the group is essential."

Atletico look likely to be without Saul Niguez, who took a blow
to his kidneys in the Champions League defeat to Bayer Leverkusen
last week.

Valencia, meanwhile, have doubts over Nicolas Otamendi, who
picked up a sprain to his left ankle in the 2-0 win over Real
Sociedad last time out.